Life Under The Big Top
by Quake Shatterfist
Summary: A Pokemon SYOC Story following a traveling circus and their adventure around the Kanto region bringing joy and happiness to everyone who see their show. As well as joining in the occasional Pokemon Battle, Contest or Race. The story starts with a fateful encounter with a mysterious girl. The SYOC is closed for now
1. Chapter 1 - An Unexpected Encounter

Hey All, I'm Quake and welcome to my next project, it's another SYOC but in the Pokemon Universe, the story follows a traveling circus. So I hope you come along for this journey. So sit back, relax and Enjoy this new tale. Quake

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 **Chapter 1: An Unexpected Encounter**

The circus, a mysterious place, a magical place that brings joy and laughter to everyone who come to experience this majestic display. With acts that so funny, so thrilling, so mesmerizing, those entertainers and their pokemon can create an atmosphere that will keep all who witness it spellbound. Truly a magical place no wonder at one point in a child's life, their dream would be run away and join the circus

So given the opportunity, would you do it? Just leave everything behind, everything that made you who are behind to join this circus. Could you do it? To pay the price to chase that foolish dream you made from when you were young. That dream that was sparked from witnessing that magical place. Could you pass on that bundle of emotions you had felt from that moment onto the next person who came to see you?

So given the chance, would you leave it all behind to join the circus? To grant the future children the opportunity to share that same dream you had when you were young?.

To the south east of Pewter City, there the forest meets the plains and the mountains. An ideal spot to host an massive pokemon racing tournament, The Viridian Circuit, since most of the courses go through the Viridian Forest. The Viridian Circuit is home to land and sky races, due its geographical location it is unable to host the water races.

Pokemon racing where the trainers ride on the backs off their pokemon to complete objectives like collecting 6 flags or flying through rings in the sky as well as setting the best time for the race. Pokemon racing originated in the Kalos region where they would race on the back of rhyhorns.

This quickly grew in popularity and spread across the globe like wildfire, now it's considered to be an official pokemon event like pokemon contests and league battles. Pokemon Racing has 3 categories; land, sky and water. Each categories have multiple divisions which are separated based on the pokemon's maximum speed.

The noise from the crowd cheering echoed through the area, the sound of the pokemon's feet clashing with earth as they raced through the plains section of the course coming up to the Viridian Forest section. It was the final lap most of the racers have collected their fifth flag and planned to get their last flag on the last leg of the course.

"Coming up to the forest entrance and it's the reigning champ out in front, the one and only Crimson King, Ashton Reynolds and his majestic Rapidash." the announcer says over the loss speakers. Ashton Reynolds is the 4 Times reigning champ in the Division A land racers, he lives and breathes the sport and hates anyone who doesn't take it seriously, namely a bunch of racers from a certain traveling circus.

"However the champ has gotten some fierce competition, with the new upcomer the Red Rocket hot on his trail" the announcer informs the crowd as the front pack of racers enter the forest losing the line of sight of the announcer.

"What a display of riding prowess the Red Rocket has displayed throughout this tournament. The young Daniel Jones and his partner Grover the Arcanine have been one to look out for during tournament… also I should add that he is single ladies" the announcer adds to get a raise out the crowd.

The sound of the crowd cheering travels deep into the forest catching the ears of a young girl, who was lying down on the ground. With no memories, she didn't even know her own name let alone she got there. With the anxiety creeping this young girl slowly headed for the source of that sound, her body shaking with every step she took due to an overwhelmingly fear.

She was about 5'5" tall with slim yet curvy build, with long golden brown hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a simple cream colored dress with a red piece of cloth around her waist. The outfit itself was very subtle in design but it did accentuate her figure. However her dress was ripped and torn, covered in mud and grime. Her dress wasn't the only thing that was dirty, her entire body was like that with sores amassing on her feet as she traveled due to not having any shoes.

Just the sight of her would make you ask the question 'what happened to her?'. The sound of the earth rumbling from the nearby racers made her heart beat faster as the sound got closer. She didn't know what to expect but she knew that she had to keep moving.

As she moved forward towards that noise, she came across a deceptive slope, with one poorly placed footstep. The ground gave way causing her slip and fall down a rather steep slope, letting out a scream in the process which travelled far enough to catch the ears of an Arcanine named Grover.

Grover started to shake the reins furiously in attempts to change his course which made Daniel fight back, struggling to keep his pokemon on the correct path. "What's wrong Bud…. That…. Is…. Not a…. Short…. Cut." Daniel struggled to say while trying not to crash or get thrown off.

The girl finally came to a stop, her body completely aching from the fall. It took a lot effort to get herself off the ground. Looking around the young girl heard a new noise, a very bad noise, a noise generated from swarm of flapping wings. She came to a stop near a giant beedrill's nest and they are extremely territorial this time of year.

As the angry beedrill started to swarm, the young girl screamed out of pure terror "SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

Meanwhile Daniel continued to struggle with his Arcanine, noticing the reigning champ slowly pull away. "Argh… Grover he is getting away" Daniel said feeling rather annoyed which made Grover snarl back. Then the girls cries finally reached Daniel's ears "shit… did you hear that bud?" he says as Grover happily lets go off reins and cheerfully barks.

"You knew about this didn't ya bud" Daniel sighs as he pulls on the reins to make Grover take the path heading towards that sound the girl made. "Let's go bud, extremespeed" as they shot off like rocket down the off road path.

The young girl was desperately trying to run the swarm of beedrills however due to the condition of her feet, she was limited to slow walk. Seeing a wall of beedrill not far from her, she just stopped. There was no way she could escape them and since she was in the forest no one would be around to help her, so she just gave up.

"FLARE BLITZ" a male voice echoed throughout the area, hearing that voice gave her hope as she saw a fireball break through the wall of beedrill. As the fireball dissipated she saw a man dressed in red racing leather with white and gold trimming on top of an Arcanine. She couldn't see his face due to his helmet but the sight of him brought tears to her eyes.

With one smooth movement, the Arcanine slid low to the ground just as his rider grabbed the girl around her waist. Using the momentum shift from the Arcanine taking off to sling the girl onto the saddle, making sure that she was position just in front of him. "Hold on" he says as he ensures that she won't fall while giving the command for Grover to run at top speed.

"Come on bud, we have got a lot of ground to cover" Daniel calmly says while assessing the quickest and safest way back onto the track, considering he now has somebody riding with him who was very disoriented. He held her close to ensure that she wouldn't fall off as Grover blitzed through the forest trail.

The young girl was blown away, everything happened so fast she couldn't process the actions that occurred. All she could focus on was that strange boy who saved her and the warmth emanating from the boy made her feel safe.

They finally made it onto the course, the sight of the outside peering through the forest borders, brought a tear to her eyes. To her this horrible ordeal was finally over, as they exited the forest at an incredible speed, the light was so bright the young girl had to close her eyes. Couple of moments had past and her eyes have finally adjusted. She could see that there is a turn coming up, which that an overhang from a nearby tree.

On the ground, by the side of the road laid a branch with multiple flags attached to it. "Shit that smug bastard, to think he pull something so cheap". Even tho his voice was muffled from his helmet, the young girl could tell the boy beside her was rather angry. Her eyes opened wide when she saw the boy's hands move to secure her safety in the saddle.

He had a very gentle touch, carefully and calmly guiding her hands to the correct spots to hold onto the saddle and making sure her right foot was on the right stirrup. The coldness of the metal stirrup stung her foot. "Just relax and it will be alright, so don't worry… ok?" Daniel reassures the girl as they come up to the bend.

"Ladies and gentlemen the reigning champ is out in front with a massive led, what happened to the red rocket?" The announcer says with a puzzled look. "Woah….. Did you see that! The red rocket just came sliding around the final corner and it looked like Daniel Jones has fallen off…"

The entire crowd quickly turned to the big screen to see the reply of Daniel coming around the corner, with the reins wrapped around his right arm and his entire body off his saddle, reaching for the flag on the ground. "Wait… wait wait who is that?" the announcer says to his crew when he notices the girl riding with Daniel.

"Cool he is conserving energy, we still have a chance. Punch it bud" Daniel cheers says as he spots Ashton who is a lot closer than expected. Grover barks happily as he increases his speed, slowly closing the gap between the 2. A the rate Daniel was going, it was turning into a mad dash across the finish line.

With the finish line in sight, Ashton noticed Daniel closing the gap however it was too late to get his Rapidash up to full speed. The photo from the finish line camera shows Daniel being a half a body length in front. The crowd goes wild, cheering and applauding like crazy over the come from behind win.

The young girl fell asleep, resting against Daniel's body as they rode to where he was staying within the grounds of a traveling circus called 'Fantasia'. The reason why the young girl passed out was due to fatigue, after all that happened to her as soon as she knew that she was safe, she just ran out of gas.

Some time has past since the young girl had arrived at the circus grounds, "So how is she?" A women asked with stern yet caring voice. Emilia Cunningham was her name, she owned the circus and treated everyone worked for her as family.

"She is sound asleep, appearance wise she has been through a lot but is on the road to recovery. However that's is not the troublesome part" the one looking after that young girl. Isabelle Booker, the circus's current fortune teller and medical practitioner. Isabelle was always seen with her Gardevoir and both of them had a worried look.

"So what is the troublesome part then?" Emilia replied, to give Isabelle and her pokemon such a worrisome look really troubled her.

"It's just…. I had Serenity check for any signs of mental trauma and what she found was….. nothing, no memories of herself…. Not even a dream" Isabelle said in a rather sad tone, she only knew of one person that was found in this condition and that was a rather painful time for everyone.

Before they knew, Daniel and his Arcanine Grover had walked in. "Hey Izzy how is she?" he enquired cheerfully "oh you're here as well hey Gram"

That comment touched a nerve "I'm not that old you little shit" Emilia replied back clenching her fist in rage, contemplating whether to hit Daniel for his remark or not.

Seeing Emilia's rage, Isabelle softly laughed, "She is doing fine Danny, just resting"

Daniel was happy to hear that, having someone faint like she did was a real shock to his system "cool cool… I guess I was worrying over nothing then" he chuckled at the end while rubbing his hand through his hair.

With the sound of that boys voice, the young girl started to wake. As her eyes adjusted to the light. She saw 3 people looking over her, a girl in her mid twenties she had blues eyes and long wavy black hair in a single braid, she was wearing an outfit befitting of a fortune teller full of warm vibrant colors.

To that girl's right was an older woman, early forties with short blonde hair and brown eyes. She had a very strong, commanding aura about her, she was dressed in an elegant suite that displayed a confident businesswoman.

The final person she could see was a boy, Early twenties with a very calm, relaxing voice that sounded so familiar. He was about 5'7" tall with medium length spiky blonde hair that was slightly parted to his left and green eyes. He wore blue baggy jeans with black sneakers, he had a grey long sleeve shirt on with a white collared shirt over the top unbuttoned.

She could see a Gardevoir and Arcanine in the background, "Wh-W….Whe...Where am I?" she said softly which made Daniel smile.

"Fantasia off course" he replied cheerfully "oh my name is Daniel Jones, feel free to call me Daniel, Dan, Danny, DJ…. Nice to meet you"

"Kayleigh….. Kayleigh Davies" she replied. She was shocked, She remembered something….


	2. SYOC Information

Greetings All, It's Quake

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, It's another SYOC (Submit Your Own Character) story but this time is based in the Pokemon Universe. Like all stories on this website, this is purely fan fiction and I don't own anything that can be found within the Pokemon Universe, be it anime or games.

This Story will be taking a lot of inspirations from the games **not** the anime. Another words when trying to develop your pokemon team or finding your characters pokemon partner/companion look to the pokedex's on certain games to pick from. I.e. A character is from Hoenn, so this character will be limited to using pokemon that can be caught in the Hoenn Games (Gen 3 - Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald) unless the character has traveled from Region to Region.

This should be a given but I will be accepting any immortal 10 year olds who think the best strategy against a steel type is to use normal type moves... *cough* Ash Ketchum *cough*... Sorry about that.

Story wise, this story will be following a traveling circus called Fantasia, every member of this circus is either a pokemon trainer, coordinator or racer. So far this circus will be traveling around Kanto and possible Johto but the story could adventure of into other regions who knows...

Keep in mind, not every character submitted has to be apart of the circus, so please follow the rules I've set out for this SYOC story and I look forward to seeing what comes of this.

Thanks

Quake

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 **SYOC Character Sheet Template**

 _ **SYOC Rules:**_

 _1\. No Mary Sues or Gary Stus  
_ _2\. No Legendary Pokemon  
_ _3\. Only Pokemon Trainers Recruited By A Pokemon Professor Can Have a Starter Pokemon  
_ _4\. Pokemon Team Must Be Related To The Characters Home Region - i.e. Can't have a pokemon from kalos if the character is from kanto and never been to kalos  
_ _ **5\. MOST IMPORTANTLY BE CREATIVE  
**_ _6\. Feel free to contact me during this adventure to add or change any details of the character  
_ _ **7\. Submit the Character via PM titled 'Pokemon SYOC - {CHARACTER'S NAME}'  
**_ 8\. Have "Let's Runaway To The Circus" in the Submission to show me that you read the rules.

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 **PERSONAL INFORMATION**

Name: _(First Name, Surname, Optional Middle Name)_

Aliases: _(Any Personal Nicknames,Earned Titles, Etc...)_

Age: _(Age Of The Character)_

Gender: _(Male or Female?)_

Home Region: _(What Region Are They From?)_

 **PHYSICAL APPEARANCE**

Height: _(Height of character)_

Weight: _(Weight of character)_

Eye Colour: _(Characters eye colour)_

Hair Colour: _(Characters hair colour)_

Hairstyle: _(How Does The Character Wear Their Hair?)_

Build: _(Body shape of your character)_

Extra Body Features: _(Notable features on your character e.g scar/freckles)_

Apparel - What the Character likes to wear for:  
Everyday Life  
Sleepwear  
Swimwear  
Formal/Festival Events

Accessories: _(Any Favourite Accessories The Character Likes To Wear?)_

 **PERSONALITY PROFILE**

Personality: _(What Is The Character Like?, How Do They Act?)_

Likes: _(What Do They Like?)_

Dislikes: _(What Do They Hate?)_

Hobbies: _(Do They Having Hobbies To Pass The Time?)_

Strengths: _(What Are They Good At?)_

Weaknesses: _(What Are Their Weaknesses?)_

Fears: _(Are They Afraid Of Anything?)_

Romance: _(Do you want your character to be paired with another?, if so what type of person would they fall for?)_

Ambitions: _(What Are Their Dreams?)_

 **PERSONAL HISTORY**

Main Profession: _(Are They Pokemon Trainer, Coordinator (Pokemon Contest), Racer?)_

 _Pokemon Team/Partners: (What Pokemon Do They Used?)_

Job: _(Method of Earning Money, i.e Being a Reporter, Being a part of traveling circus Fantasia, Adventurer, etc….)_

History of Character: _(Background Information Of Your Character, How Become The Way They Are?, Any Key Moments Of Character Growth In Their Past?, Etc…)_


	3. Chapter 2 - An Night To Remember

Hey All, Quake here with a new chapter for this story. First off, please be patient with this story. As stated on my profile 'Life Under The Big Top' is not my primary focus. Saying that will find time to work in this one as well as my other story 'Connected By A Troubled Past'. This story just won't be updated at the rate off the other one. If you do like my writing style, feel free to check out the stories I have to offer. Ok serious talk done... Hope you enjoy this chapter and as always sit, back, and most importantly enjoy.  
Cheers Quake.

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 **Chapter 2: An Night To Remember**

Darkness…. A void of nothingness is what occupied that young girl's mind, her body ached all over, her eyes refused to open. She was stuck in that void, there was nothing… despair, confusion, anxiety all began to build. Could she really escape this darkness?, would she ever wake up?.

"Hey Izzy…." A voice echoed throughout, there was something about this voice, it was calming, it was warm…. It was familiar. But where did she hear it?, the young girl desperately looked through the darkness however she could not find the source of that voice.

"How is she?…." There it was again, such a warm voice full of so much compassion. It made the young girl feel so safe. She turned around, within the darkness her eyes spotted a small ember, just flickering right in front of her. That ember was so enticing, she couldn't look away, like it was welcoming her.

"Cool cool…." The voice chuckled, just hearing that voice made her smile. "I guess I was…." With word that voice said, the ember grew in size. "Worrying over nothing then" The voice chuckled again but before she knew the ember was a giant flame, just burning away the darkness leaving behind an blinding light.

It took some time for her eyes to adjust, she was laying in a rather comfortable bed. From what she could feel, her hands and feets were covered in bandages. To her right, were 3 people looking rather concerned, also rather pleased that she had awaken.

Her mind was still a blur, looking at those people, " _Where did they come?"_ a rather disturbing thought passed through her mind. The young girl was so confused "Wh-W….Whe...Where am I?" a weak voice escaped her mouth, her throat sore and dry, it was painful to speak. However her discomfort didn't go unnoticed.

The girl sitting in a chair next to the bed, dressed in warm vibrant clothing gave her a glass of water and helped her drink it. "Fantasia off course", the young girl was shocked, she started to cough due to the water. It was that familiar voice coming from behind the girl in the warm vibrant clothing. However she couldn't see the source of that voice, her body won't move no matter how hard she tried.

Appearing over Isabelle's shoulder, Daniel looked at the young girl that had a surprised and slightly confused look. His grin was contagious, as she looked into his green eyes, she couldn't help but smile. "Oh my name is Daniel Jones feel free to call me Daniel, Dan, Danny, DJ…. Nice to meet you" Daniel never lost his smile as he received a swift backhand from Emilia for being his usually carefree self.

"Kayleigh….. Kayleigh Davies" she replied, her expression quickly changed, at first she was shocked that she actually remembered something, then her face quickly when red as she continued to look into that boy Daniel's eyes. It was the way he carried those words that must of sparked something within her.

"Ok Danny, I think it's best to let Kayleigh rest some more, plus I need to change her bandages" Isabelle cheerfully says while searching through her medical bag. "Oh dam…." Isabelle sighs, turning to Daniel. "Hey Danny do you have the time?" She kindly asks.

Daniel puts out a silver pocket with a chain attached to the pocket of his pants, swinging it around before catching it in his hand and popping it open. "4 O'clock Izzy why's that?... We still have 2 and a half hours before the show starts" he replies while closing the watch and putting it back in his pocket.

"Oh thank Arceus, there still is time to grab some more supplies" Isabelle says as she grabs her bag and starts to make her way to the door. However a rather well groomed Glaceon walks into the medical tent, weaving through everyone's legs before finally jumping up on the bed and sitting down just an arm's reach away from Kayleigh. "Neve what are you doing here?" Isabelle wondered.

The Glaceon looked at Isabelle and tilt it's head at her, "Hey Neve did you find him?" A female voice asked, coming from the door, they all turn around to see a 5'7" tall girl with emerald green eyes, a beauty mark on her left cheek and long lilac purple hair done up in a high ponytail to her right, her ponytail had curls, giving a spiral appearance with some small braids to accentuate the look.

She is wearing a black leotard with a dark purple on the sides and around the collar that sparkles in the light. With a matching purple skirt with black trimmings, short black gloves and knee high purple boots. On top of that, she is wearing a miniature black top hat with a purple ribbon with the same design as her outfit and a black and white choker necklace.

"There you are Daniel, I've been looking for you" the girl cheerfully says as she walks over to Daniel with a skip in her step, it seemed like she was holding a ribbon in her hands. As she gets closer to Daniel, she puts her hands behind her back "Hey Daniel guess what?".

Daniel leans against his Arcanine Grover as Grover tries to closer to Kayleigh "What is it Ella?".

The girl moves her hands from behind her back and opens them revealing an pokemon contest ribbon, "Ta-da!" she sings.

Daniel smiles and pats her on top of her head "congrats Ella, well done" she lets out a childish giggle.

Noticing the other people in the room, she quickly knocks away Daniel's hand "stop treating me like a kid…. Geez you know how long it took to do my hair today?" the girl pouts with her cheeks slightly red, looking at Daniel with his carefree attitude. "And where were you huh? Didn't you promise to come and watch my contest?" she added sounding rather mad.

Daniel just laughed and patted Grover on the side as he was still leaning against him. "Yes I did promised to watch one of your contests, never stated it would be that one, plus I had a race on" he replies as Grover moves closer to the bed to receive more pats from Isabelle as well as Kayleigh.

"Hmph…. Well you should have told me" she pouts with her arms crossed. After waiting a bit the girl spoke, this time more cheerfully "So how did you go?".

"First with a disqualification" Daniel chuckles while holding up his right hand in a peace sign.

She looks at Daniel strangely, "What? That doesn't make any sense".

Isabelle clears her throat "Excuse Quella, can you help our friend Kayleigh here, get changed?" She kindly asks as she grabs her bag and slings it over her shoulder.

"Why… Can't you do it?" Quella replies, slightly agitated by the request. Looking at Kayleigh lying in the bed, who is looking rather scared, not knowing how to react to the conversation.

"I can't, I need to pick up some more medical supplies before it's too late" Isabelle replies trying to keep her cool. Quella never got along with Isabelle and they would often argue.

"Well whose fault was that? Hmmmm?" Quella mocks

Isabelle sighs "Please, can you do what I ask for once?", time was not on Isabelle's side. She looks over to Emilia. Who seems to be enjoying herself by watching this argument happen.

"Nope… Don't wanna" Quella sticks her tongue at Isabelle, then turns her focus back to Daniel "Hey….."

"QUELLA JACQUELINE BELL!... Now isn't the time for this shit" Isabelle says, her voice full of anger. It's rare for Isabelle to raise her voice in such away that left Quella stunned.

Emilia laughs "well since that has been sorted, I will take my leave… Oh Isabelle can I borrow Serenity while you are on your errand" she says while heading for the door. Both Isabelle and her Gardevoir Serenity nod. Serenity bows to Isabelle then follows Emilia out the door.

Isabelle takes a second to gather her thoughts "Now Danny, Kayleigh, Quella… I will be back soon" she says while grabbing a small whistle made out of a green coloured gem. Stepping outside she blows the whistle. It makes an amazing, beautiful sound, moments later an Altaria appears from the sky "Oh yeah Danny, it looks like Zephyr is after you".

"Cool thanks Izzy, well that's my cue to leave, later girls" Daniel says while signalling Grover "Let's go bud…. Oh Izzy have a safe flight and Harmony look after her". Isabelle's Altaria Harmony cheers happily before flying off with Isabelle on her back.

Couple of hours later, it was time for the show, Isabelle had gotten some supplies and had changed Kayleigh's bandages. Now she is accompanying Kayleigh to watch the show. After finding their seats, Kayleigh could clearly see Daniel standing near the entrance wearing a red tailcoat jacket with gold trimming, black pants, black boots, white gloves and a top hat matching his jacket. With Grover nearby, he was greeting the audience as they walked in.

An older woman approached him with her daughter in hand, "Excuse me, kind sir" she greeted him nicely and explained that it was her daughter's birthday and she wanted to make this day special for her.

Daniel smiles "say no more, on behalf of Fantasia, I promise to make this night one to remember". He crouches down to look the little girl in the eyes. "Now your mother just told me it was your birthday today, can you tell me how old you are now?" He kindly asks, not wanting to scare the child.

"8" she replies shyly

"That's awesome, I'm Daniel by the way, I've got a important job which I think you can help me with" He says while taking of his top hat and placing it on the little girl's head. The little girl shyly nods her head.

After showing the little girl's mother to her seat, daniel lifts the little girl on top of Grover and they continue to greet the more of the audience until the show starts. A couple of minutes past and it's time for show to start, Daniel is standing in the middle of the room with Grover on one side and the little girl on the other.

"Welcome to our final show, here in the outskirts of Pewter City. It is a tradition of Fantasia to make final show in area, a show to remember. On behalf of Fantasia, I promise that we will keep this tradition alive" Daniel's words, full of confident, keep drawing in the focus of the audience. His smile never left his face, at times like these he was proud to say those words.

"As you can see, I have a little helper. This is Emily and it is a special night for her as well. So we at Fantasia invite each and everyone of you, to keep your eyes focused on this spot. Now enjoy the magic that we…. Fantasia has to offer…. Let's begin the show"

Daniel crouches down to Emily and whispers "ok here is the important part, I need you to throw that as far as you can". Emily nods and throws the red top hat, soon as the hat leaves Emily's hands, it starts to spin and fly around Daniel and Emily. On the third rotation, leaf petals start to pour of the red hat.

Full of vibrant colours, these petals started to create an magical atmosphere setting the tone for the rest of the night. As calm, relaxing music full of life brings to play over the speakers. Through the wall of petals, dancers appeared with their pokemon, dancing in time with the music. The dancers mesmerized the audience with their movements.

Once the dancer were finished with their set, the acrobats appeared to liven up the mood, making the laugh and gasp at their crazy yet hilarious stunts. That was their objective, draw in the audience attention, mesmerize them, make them feel then make them smile. They one could tell that they were performing to the best of their abilities.

It came to the final act of the show, the trapeze artists and their death defying stunts with no net, high above the rafters of the big top. As they graciously flew through the air like the flying type pokemon sitting around the rafters. With flips, spins and catches, it was truly breathtaking, the music and lighting enhanced the effect.

Daniel had appeared every now and then throughout the night to introduce the following act, he stood on the ground with the trapeze artists flying high above. Coming up to the end off the show, their final stunt, which was rather dangerous because the timing that to be spot on. It was a stunt that they practiced a lot which involved both the high and low trapezes.

The one performing the stunt, was a girl roughly Daniel's age. She had done this stunt a thousand times, where she would flip and spin through the air and be caught by one from the artists on the lower trapeze. The difference in height from the release and catch made it dangerous.

However this time round, the girl looked like she was out of breath, struggling to breathe. Her colleagues didn't notice because she hid it well. Moving to her mark, she started to swing, the crowd went silent. Then the crowd gasped out of fear, they were horrified at the sight. The girl released way too late, which send flying straight up and higher than any stunt.

She was turning out of control as she felt towards the ground. All the trapeze artist tried their hardest to save her, however they couldn't show that fact that they panicking. The biggest rule of fantasia was the crowd must believe whatever happens is apart of the show. The girl finally regain control of her fall, she was dangerously close to landing on Daniel.

Out of nowhere a Pidgeot gave flying out of shadows high above, catching her in the its talons. It flew by knocking off Daniel's top hat. "Ladies and Gentlemen, The Leap of Faith, the ultimate display of the bond a trainer and pokemon shares" Daniel says as the audience goes wild, they stand up and applaud very loudly. "Thank you, we are Fantasia and we bid you a good night" The lights go dark on the centre stage.


	4. Chapter 3 - The Day That Follows

Greetings All, Quake here is another chapter, life has thrown me an interesting curve ball, so the time it takes to write the chapters for both stories is a bit wonky atm. I will continue to keep writing because its fun and I really enjoy the responses I get from everyone readying them. Ok serious talk over, to all who submitted a trainer to my story, All i can in the next couple of chapters your time has come. So sit back, relax and most importantly enjoy this chapter. Cheers Quake

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 **Chapter 3: The Day That Follows**

It's been 10 minutes since the show had ended, while most of members of Fantasia calmly helped the guests leave and close up the grounds. However everyone was on edge because there was almost a fatal incident during the show. Jessica Mason was her name, she is a talented trapeze artist who recently picked up sky racing with her Pidgeot named Cloud.

Jessica is a 5'6" tall girl with a well developed body, long wavy brown hair and dark blue eyes. However she has always hated her figure, because her physique is rather impractical for a trapeze artist. So in order to perform at her best during the shows, she has to wrap her chest which is a rather annoying process for her.

As the rest gather around, inside the medical tent they look in suspense as Isabelle treats Jessica. She was lying in the bed, covered in sweat and breathing heavily. Her face was red and hot to touch. One of the girls from the dance crew spoke up, "What's wrong with Jess? Is she going alright?" she sounded extremely worried as the rest eagerly waited for Isabelle's diagnosis.

After examining Jessica, Isabelle let's out a sigh of relief "it's just a common cold, with medicine and a lots of rest, she will be right as rain. What doesn't make sense is that she was fine when I saw her in the morning" Isabelle wonders as she searches for the right ingredients for the medicine she needs to make.

"I can answer that" a soft female voice said, coming from the entrance, Isabelle looks up to see 2 people enter the medical tent, a girl with an athletic build, short black hair in a bob style with her bangs covering her left eye, standing 5'9" tall and still dressed in the trapeze artist outfit.

Emma Taylor was her name, she had a rather disappointed look for her face. With a sigh she said "This is what happens, when I go against my better judgement…. Foolish girl"

Isabelle looks down at Jessica who looks that she is about to cry, as she struggles to mouth the words I'm sorry. "What do you mean Emma?" Isabelle enquires.

"I watched her race and she got 'washed out' within the first couple of laps" Emma spoke clearly, the way she spoke could be considered harsh however Emma is the type of person who didn't sugar coat things when mistakes were made and it was their own fault for their current condition. "The foolish girl, continued to race at the top speed. She said she was fine afterwards and made me promise not to tell anyone"

The man standing next to Emma laughed "Idiots… The both of you, there can't be any secrets with matters like these" He said calmly while resting his hand on Emma's head and messing up her hair.

This resulted in a swift elbow to his ribs, his name is Zephyr Itzal, standing 5'11" with a lean fit build. With Amber eyes and long blue hair, the top half of his hair was spiky and very wild, however the bottom half was tied by in a low sitting ponytail. He had a blue bandana with white tribal patterns tied up in an headband, covering most of his forehead with a pair of Aviators resting on top.

He was wearing a navy blue compression shirt with a black leather style jacket left opened, also a pair of black snowboard style pants with black capped boots to match his pants. Zephyr had 3 pouches, 2 on his belt and the final one attached to his left thigh. He is known as the best sky racer in Fantasia so people would often go to him for advice on being a better racer.

After hearing that story Isabelle places her hand on Jessica's hand "It's going to be alright" she says softly to her before facing the crowd of Fantasia members. "Ok everyone out, I need to get her out of these clothes so I can start treating her"

As the crowd starts to dissipate, Jessica reached out and grabbed Daniel's pants, her grip was extremely weak. "Don't go" she said weakly, Daniel turned around smiled, taking her hand with both of this.

"Sorry Jess, I have to but I promise I won't be gone for too long" he said with a smile as he release her hand and held up his pinky finger. Jessica smiled back as Isabelle shooed everyone away to let her work in peace.

The next morning, Kayleigh was wandering the circus grounds mindlessly, she appeared to be looking for something or someone. She was wearing 3 quarter length pants and a tee shirt with the Fantasia logo on it. These clothes were borrowed from Isabelle since she has nothing really to wear.

"Need some help there little miss?" the voice appeared out of nowhere which gave Kayleigh a scare. She quickly turns around to see Zephyr standing right there. She remembered seeing him the night before, however today he wasn't wearing his jacket.

She noticed that his forearms were covered in scars. It took some time for Kayleigh to remember what she was searching for because she kept getting distracted by the everyday life of the circus. Along her travels she saw a man dressed in a white collared shirt with a black vest, black pants, boots and gloves. With a short spiky black hair and a single red dyed bang hanging in front of his face and a cigarette hanging out his month.

He was just sitting there with his feet up, sharpening some throwing knives. He seemed scary to Kayleigh so she quickly moved on. Zephyr noticed she looking at his arms, he let of a hearty chuckle which brought Kayleigh out her trace. "Umm….. Do..you know where Daniel is?" she sheepishly asks.

"I haven't him today but I have a good idea where he is" Zephyr replies, "Oh where are my manners, I am Zephyr Itzal" he graciously bows in front, his accent was strong and sounded completely different to Daniel, Isabelle or even Emilia. She noticed that there a lot of different accents scattered throughout Fantasia, meaning the members came from all corners of the globe.

"I'm….." Kayleigh replies but stops quickly, her mind went blank. Did she just forgot her own name again?, her expression quickly change to one full of worry until she thought about the conversation she had in the medical tent. "Kay….Kayleigh Davies, nice to meet you Mr Itzal" she says with a flushed face, it was pretty embarrassing for her to almost forget her own name again.

"Zeph is fine Kayleigh… nice to meet you" he laughs while placing his hand on Kayleigh's head. "If you want, I can show you around the place"

Kayleigh couldn't help but smile, "what about Daniel?" she asked while trying to remove Zephyr's hand from her head.

"Knowing him, he will be busy looking after Jessica, considering what happened" Zephyr chuckles some more at Kayleigh's struggles.

"Oh….." her voice suddenly went sad, all her energy she had just disappeared. "Are….Are they...going out?" She sounded more depressed with each word she spoke.

"I'm not so sure about that, Jessica and Daniel have always been close, They are both from Johto and joined the circus around the same time". Zephyr says noticing Kayleigh's mood slightly improving. "Come on let's go have a look around, it might cheer you up" He adds with a big smile.

On their travels around the circus grounds, they saw Quella practicing her dancing with her pokemon, Kayleigh mention to Zephyr how breath taking her dancing was during the show. When Zephyr talked about Quella, he would always refer to her as a princess. Which made Kayleigh giggle some more.

As they walk around the grounds, Kayleigh looked up to Zephyr, "Umm…. Zeph… what does 'washed out' mean?... everyone seemed shocked when that girl mentioned it" she says while trying to recall what happened the night before.

"Girl?... Oh you mean Emma" he stops to gather his thoughts. "Well 'washed out' is a term used in sky and land racing, where you can covered in water by another racer's movements. It's more serious for sky racers because of the speeds we race at, the wind chill is not joke. Look what happen to Jessica".

"Oh" Kayleigh replies softly, she continues to walk in silence. Constantly thinking about what Zephyr had told her.

As they reached the the main big top tent where they host the show and practice the trapeze acts. A voice called out to them, "You're late Zephyr… Where have you been?" it was Emma. She was annoyed with him "You said you would help out with training". She pauses when she notices Kayleigh standing next to him "Umm Zeph who is that?"

"I know I know Em…. and this is Kayleigh" he replies while brushing his hand through his hair.

Couple of hours had passed, Daniel was wondering about when he heard some commotion coming from the big top. As he got closer he could vaguely hear Kayleigh's voice, she sounded rather distressed. Daniel saw Zephyr, Emma and a few others standing there, all of them were looking upwards.

They were shouting words of encouragement at Kayleigh, she was standing on the lower trapeze platform. Frozen in fear, with tears running down her face, Kayleigh stood there with a solid grip on the support pole. "What did you do now Zeph?" Daniel says with a sarcastic tone.

Both Zephyr and Emma turn around to see Daniel standing with a cheeky grin. "Hey this time it wasn't my fault, she wanted to try it out" Zephyr replies with an exhausted tone, clearly he was tired from dealing with this whole ordeal. "Can you help out? We have had no luck with her" he adds while rubbing his temples to ease his headache.

"Sure thing" Daniel cheerfully says while moving towards the ladder up to the first trapeze platform. As soon as he reaches the platform and stands comfortably, Kayleigh eyes open. They were red from crying, with tears still running down her face, she was trembling in fear. Daniel smiles as he holds out his hand "It's going to be alright".

Without hesitation she lets go of the support beam and quickly wraps her arms around Daniel, burying her face into his chest in the process. She kept mumbling that she was scared over and over while holding onto him tighter.

The initial contact from Kayleigh almost over balance them however Daniel was quick to recover. Resting a hand on top of her Kayleigh, noticing that she seem was slowly calming down. "What are you doing up here if you are afraid of heights?" he asks softly.

"I don't know….." her voice was quiet like a whisper, "I can't remember anything….." it started becoming louder and more distressed, after calming down she was now on the verge of tears. "NOTHING… I DON'T KNOW WHO I EVEN AM!" she finally snaps and starting crying again.

Daniel just smiles and holds her closer "it's going to be alright, do you want to get down now?"

"Yes….." she mumbles softly.

"Ok, I need you close your eyes and think about being on the ground…. You can trust me" Daniel says as he gently positions himself and her closer to the edge of the platform. Holding onto Kayleigh tightly, he lends backwards as they both fall to the ground.

Landing safely on the net below, Kayleigh opened her eyes to see Daniel laughing while holding her tight. Both Emma and Zephyr walked up to the safety net as it was getting lowered. They helped Kayleigh get off the net, as Kayleigh's feet reached the ground.

Zephyr saw something strange, for a split second her shadow distorted in an very unnatural way. He had to look again but saw nothing strange. Zephyr just sighed, he was more exhausted than he had realised. Daniel got off the net and stood next to him "you don't look too good man, everything alright?".

"I'm fine DJ, just a bit tired" Zephyr replies while still trying to figure out what happened. Leaving Emma to continue her training much to her disliking. Daniel, Kayleigh and Zephyr continued their walk around the grounds.

As they left the big top, Daniel quickly shouted "Oh praise Arceus, look over there is that Jalen Blake" he sounded very sarcastic as he shouted. A boy standing 6'1" with a thin build, quickly appeared to tell him to shut up.

Jalen Blake was 19 years old, 2 years younger than Daniel and Zephyr, he was wearing a dark grey trench coat, black pants, a black shirt, black combat boots and leather gloves. His face was covered up with a black bandana and a pair of welding goggles. He always hated being recognised by the public and Daniel's antics never help on the matter.

Daniel is always trying to pull him out his shell, "Jalen what are you doing? Why are you covering up, don't you realise. On days like these, the public isn't allowed on the grounds… so why are you hiding?" Daniel says in his usual playful manner, however Jalen was not amused, he was already behind schedule and didn't have any spare energy to deal with Daniel.

"I know….. Is there a reason why you're stopping me Daniel?" he spoke in a distracted tone, clearly he had something else on his mind.

"Not really, but there is someone you should met, This is Kayleigh, she is staying with the circus for a while" Daniels replies while resting a hand on her shoulder.

"Ummm….. Nice to meet you Jalen" Kayleigh kindly says with a small bow at the end.

"Likewise…." Jalen replies, turning to face Daniel "Can I go now?, I have a few things to do and I'm already behind schedule, I don't have the luxury to waste anymore time"

"Getting ready for the battle tournament in Cerulean City?" Zephyr asks which Jalen replies with a nod, "I know Jason and SB left earlier today for that, didn't you want to go with them?... Wait nevermind, go do want you need to do" Zephyr corrected himself midway since he knew Jalen was one of those person who liked to travel alone to prevent standing out.

Jalen simply nods, readjusts his bandana to cover up and walks off. Kayleigh stood here with a confused look "I have seen him before…."

Both Daniel and Zephyr laugh, "Yeah last night during the show, Jalen does the illusion acts during the middle of show" Daniel adds which makes Kayleigh reply with a single word 'wow'.

As Jalen leaves a voice calls out to Daniel, Kayleigh and Zephyr, "Oh good, I found you guys" It was Isabelle, she was looking for them, luckily she didn't have to travel far.

"Hey Izzy" both Daniel and Zephyr reply, Kayleigh simply waves to her.

"Emilia wanted you three and Jessica to leave early tomorrow for Cerulean City" Isabelle cheerfully says which gets some strange looks from the boys. "Jessica should be fine tomorrow, so I will leaving her in your care" she adds with a smile.


	5. Chapter 4 - The Water Flower Festival

Greetings All, First off I apologise for the disappearing act I unintentionally pulled. Life pulled a fast one on me and work did hit a crunch time for a while. On top of that some pretty awesome games where released that ate up much of my time. So yeah I'm sorry and I hope that people didn't that I was gone for good and the story wasn't going to be updated anymore. Ok enough of that kind of talk, here is a new chapter for you all, I will be slowly changing the format on how I present my stories to bring them inline with via SYOC stories. So sit back relax and most importantly enjoy! Cheers Quake.

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 **Chapter 4: The Water Flower Festival**

"Look!... There it is, Cerulean City in all her glory"

"See I told you Zeph, that we'll make it in 2 days, you better pay up when we get to the inn"

"Sigh…. Not everyone owns a nutcase Arcanine that loves to run…. all the time man, look at poor Nine she is not used to this level of physical intensity…. She is exhausted from trying to keep up with Grover"

"Quiet you idiots, both of you are going to wake her up"

Hearing Daniel, Jessica and Zephyr talking to each other with the occasional response from 2 pokemon that sounded like Arcanines. Kayleigh slowly opened her eyes, it took a bit for her eyes to adjust to the light. She had been asleep, resting against Daniel for most of the trip since leaving Mt. Moon.

From Pewter City to Cerulean City, there are 2 paths to take. The long way which goes around the base of Mt. Moon which the rest of Fantasia will be taking. And the short way which most people on an pokemon adventure take that goes through Mt. Moon.

Daniel and Kayleigh were riding on the back of Grover. Zephyr and Jessica were riding on the back of Zephyr's own Arcanine named Nine. Well it was more look Nine was desperately trying to keep up with Grover who kept a rather fast pace for the majority off the trip.

"Oh good afternoon Beautiful did you…. Ouch" Zephyr said before receiving an elbow to his side from Jessica.

"Geez…. Zeph can you not…. We don't want you to scar the poor girl" Jessica softly says, then looks over to Kayleigh who still rubbing her eyes "did you sleep well Kayleigh?" She enquires.

Before Kayleigh could answer, Zephyr lent towards Jessica and whispered into her ear "I bet you are wishing that you were sitting in Kayleigh's spot for the entire trip… am I right?". Hearing Zephyr's words, Jessica's face went bright red as she elbowed Zephyr right in the same spot as before.

"Yes I did thank you Jessica…. Um is everything o…. Woooow" Kayleigh replied but lost her train of thought after seeing the sunlight shined off the building from Cerulean City, which made the view more majestic. Kayleigh was blown away just by the sight of it, everyone agreed that it would be best for Kayleigh to go along with them. Hoping that what she saw along the way would spark any memories about herself or what happened.

As Daniel and Zephyr focused on controlling their own Arcanines, the girls were happily talking to each other with Kayleigh constantly pointing out things that she thought were pretty. As they got closer to the entrance to Cerulean City, Zephyr let out a big sigh "It has been a long time since we have been here".

Kayleigh noticed some sadness in Zephyr's voice like he had something major on his mind. She couldn't help but wonder what exactly happened the last time they were in Cerulean City. From what she could tell, Zephyr is always cheerful so seeing him like this was rather strange.

"Yeah man, 5 years I believe" Daniel replies which causes Kayleigh to glance at him through the corner of her eyes, since she couldn't fully turn around to face him. Now Daniel was acting just as strange, this made Kayleigh wonder more about what happened.

"Hey DJ, do you think she remembers?" Zephyr asks

"Not sure man…. maybe…. I don't know" Daniel replies. This was a rare occasion Daniel was speechless, normally he would try and lighten the mood. His reply filled Kayleigh head with some terrible thoughts. Thoughts like, where they talking about her? Did she meet them in the past? Is that the reason why they are bringing nice to her?.

There was an eerie silence between them as they entered the city, even Jessica remained silent throughout their discussion about the past. It was almost like she didn't care about the matter. Soon as they entered the city they were greeted by the lively atmosphere of city. The slight made Kayleigh mouth the word 'wow' as she saw the decorations covering the streets of Cerulean City.

However, they didn't make it far until they were stopped by a woman dressed in a police officer's uniform. She had blown a whistle to get their attention and made them stop. She stood about 5'8" with shoulder length blonde hair and brown eyes. Slowly walking over to them, she saw both the guys get off their respective arcanines and help the girls off that were accompanying them.

Until her eyes came across Zephyr, she increased her pace. Within a couple steps of Zephyr, she took off her officer's hat and stared right into his eyes. Zephyr was shocked "JENNY!" he called out with joy, however he was only greeted with a slap across his face. That slap had enough force to knock Zephyr on the ground.

"The nerve…. After what you did…." she trails off as she puts her hat back on and faces the rest of the group. Daniel was laughing, Kayleigh was white as a ghost from what happened and Jessica just had a smile on her face.

"I guess she did man…. Hey Sarah how's it going? the blonde hair really suits you" Daniel says after getting his composure from the laughing fit.

"Thank you Daniel, well it is my natural hair colour" she replies, after taking a glance at Zephyr who is still on the floor. "I'm feeling a lot better now" She adds with smirk "Good Afternoon Jessica, I hope everything is going well in the circus? also I love your outfit Jessica it looks really good on you"

"Thanks Sarah, everyone is fine at the circus, they should be here near the end of week" Jessica replies. She was wearing a tight purple tee shirt with a navy-blue parka jacket with a fur trimmed hood, tight black pants with brown knee high boots. Her long wavy brown hair was done up in a ponytail that sat on the left side of her head held by a blue scrunchie. Her entire outfit accentuated her figure really well.

"That's good to hear" Sarah replies until she notices Kayleigh who is sort of trying to hide behind Daniel. "Umm…. Jessica who is your friend?" she enquires

"This is Kayleigh Davies, a recent addition to Fantasia's ranks" Jessica replies while signalling to Kayleigh to say hello. However, she just continued to hide behind Daniel "Kayleigh, this is Sarah Russell, we met her the last time we were in Cerulean City"

Sarah smiles "Nice to meet you Kayleigh".

"Umm…. N-n-n... Nice t-to meet you" Kayleigh replies sheepishly

"You don't have to worry about Sarah, she won't bite…. Well…. Unless your Zeph" Daniel adds while side stepping out the way so Kayleigh is looking directly at Sarah who is just smiling back.

"Yeah, she had a thing for Zephyr back then, However Zephyr managed to royally mess it up" Jessica says as she nudges Zephyr with her foot to see if he is still conscious. After hearing some grumbles from him, Jessica continues "he kept mistaking her name for Jenny… I think it was the green hair"

"Green hair?" Kayleigh replies with a puzzled looked.

"Yeah I lost a bet at the time and had to dye my hair green" Sarah says with a soft chuckle at the end.

"To make matters worse, Zephyr forgot to the date we were leaving and set up their biggest date so far, then made himself sick from stressing about the fact he couldn't fix the situation after learning the time and date of our departure from Cerulean City" Jessica sighs "By the time he came too, we were already on the road and Sarah was left there waiting, only Arceus knows how long"

Sarah just chuckled weakly, as Zephyr groaned on the ground from her hit. Daniel had released that there probably was another reason for her to stop them besides catching up but he couldn't figure it out. "I take it that catching up and reminiscing wasn't on your agenda when you first stopped us, so what can we do for you Sarah?"

Daniel's question reminded her that she was still working, "oh that's right, thank you Daniel. I need to know are you all participating in the festival tournament?" She asks which both Daniel and Jessica shake their heads.

"I remember SB talking about the Water Flower Festival to a certain blue haired knucklehead" Jessica says while trying to remember more details about that from the conversation she overheard.

"That is right, the Water Flower Festival is an important festival in Cerulean City, it was created to show respect to the 4 greatest pokemon trainers that were born here and from the same family. In honour of that family and the achievements they accomplished for our city, We host this festival and it's battle tournament" Sarah informs.

"So if you are not completing in the tournament, I'm afraid that you must store your pokemon in their pokeballs until the tournament is over, so you don't get mistaken for a competitor" Sarah adds which makes Daniel sigh.

"I guess I have no choice in the matter, sorry bud" Daniel says while lifting a part of his shirt revealing a pokeball holder attached to his belt with 2 pokeballs. Grabbing one of the pokeballs "Grover return" he says as a red beam shots out to Grover, returning him to the pokeball.

"Thank you Daniel, so are you going to check into your hotel now?" Sarah asks with smile on her face, after bowing to Daniel for his actions. Times like these are extremely rare since Daniel rarely has Grover in his pokeball. And going from past experiences, Sarah expected that he would put up a fuss about it.

"That's correct Sarah" Jessica replies noticing that Zephyr is finally back on his feet.

"I think you should make a couple of stops beforehand while things around here are quite" Sarah says with a slight laugh, the tone of her voice wavering slightly.

Both Kayleigh and Jessica give Sarah a confused look, while Zephyr tries to get his balance and shake off the blow she gave to him "What do you suggest?" Daniel wonders.

"Well first off, I did hit Zeph a bit hard…. Sorry" Sarah softly giggles while cheekily poking her tongue out in an playful 'tee-hee' fashion young girls are known for. "So you might want to get him checked out and secondly, you can't have such a cute girl dressed up in such trivial and unsightly clothing. It's like a crime against society"

Sarah points out Kayleigh's attire which consists of borrowed clothing and old Fantasia memorabilia which have seen their fair share of use. Sarah hands a map to Jessica with 2 locations circled, a popular women's clothing store and the nearest hospital. "I recommend you go now while everyone is preparing for tournament, so the main streets won't be busy"

"Thanks Sarah and hopefully we see you around" Jessica kindly replies.

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Hey All, first off thanks for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it.

Secondly, for a while now I've had this idea of creating a place for people to come, pitch story ideas and develop those ideas into actual stories while helping others do the same. Mainly because I'm the type of person who loves to create story ideas and try to flush them into an actual story before the brain decides to go "New Story Time".

I have made an forum called the 'Tale Forge' which its sole purpose is listed above, if your interested feel free to check it out. The simplest way of finding the forge is via an link on my profile. So yeah enjoy the rest of your day and thanks again for reading my stories.

Quake.


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